Chapter 26: The Flying Club.

Autumn was well on its way – fluffy, white clouds that had floated slowly across the sky were replaced by low, grey ones that accumulated heavily on the horizon and then dissolved into showers of rain, followed by blustery winds.

However, the last Sunday of September was fine and Severus and Lily were sitting by the lake, finishing off a southern hemisphere Star chart for Professor Sinistra. Their previous Astronomy lesson at the top of the Astronomy tower had to be cancelled due to a violent storm.

'You know, Sev,' Lily said, as she dangled her hand in the water, watching the small fish darting around it curiously. 'We should join a club…'

'Mmm?'

Severus was labeling the last constellation and did not hear her.

'Join a club,' she repeated, sitting up and moving over to where he was sitting cross-legged, with the large star chart spread across his lap. 'A flying club!'

'A what?'

'You know – a club, a Student's club. There are many of them – The Charms club; the Gobstones Club – it would give us something to do on weekends, something to look forward to….'

'May I remind you that we do have something to do,' he said, lifting up the star chart. 'And I'm doing it for you actually, since you seem more interested in paddling about in the water.'

'Oh, come on, Sev – you know I looked up all the names for you. It's just that your handwriting is smaller, and you can fit in all the names in better…'

'And you just didn't feel like working, even though it's a joint project,' he said with a wry smile.

'Professor Sinistra is taking Dumbledore's words about house unity quite to heart - That's the third joint project she's given us.' She giggled. 'D'you know who Peter Pettigrew was doubled up with?'

'Who?'

'Wilkes. And they are both so abysmal at astronomy that Peter spent all yesterday morning in the Gryffindor Common room trying to scrounge the information off someone. Finally Potter took pity on him and let him copy his notes.'

'And who was the poor git who got to partner Potter?' he asked with a sneer. 'No one in the Slytherin common-room mentioned him.'

'Oh – he offered to partner Remus Lupin because no-one else wanted to – he's sick so often. In fact, yesterday morning I saw him heading off to the hospital wing, and it seems he didn't come back, because Potter had to finish the chart by himself. I wonder what's wrong with that boy…?'

Severus didn't answer. Lily knew the mention of Potter or Black always put him in a bad mood. She couldn't blame him – these last few weeks they had been particularly obnoxious – there was hardly a day when they when they weren't prancing around with their expensive brooms, polishing and grooming them in the Common-room or out in the castle grounds, under the admiring gaze of many students, including those on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

'Well, how about it?' she said after a while.

'How 'bout what?' he mumbled.

'How about joining the Flying Club?'

'What for?' he said, acerbically. 'So Potter and Black can fly in circles around us on those bloody broomsticks of theirs? Isn't it enough they keep shoving them up everyone's nose at breakfast, just to make sure everyone knows they've got the best …'

'I don't think they're in the Flying Club. I heard them bragging it's too tame for them.'

Severus said nothing but rolled up the large parchment he had been working on and handed it to her wordlessly. Then he stood up.

'I've got things to do,' he said.

She got up too.

'What things? We finished our homework – there's a whole afternoon. Don't tell me you're still reading that stupid book Rosier's given you!'

'It's not stupid!' he snapped, heading back towards the castle.

She bit back an angry retort. Perhaps he thought she was insulting his only family member in that book, but it was getting a bit ridiculous.

'Look, it's not stupid, perhaps, but it certainly isn't important,' she said, following at his side. 'Certainly not as important as doing something fun…'

He continued walking, ignoring her, but she caught his arm, forcing him to stop.

'Oh, come on, Sev, I know you used to like flying last year. And I miss it too. There are no flying lessons this year.'

He paused, looking at her eager, pleading face.

'Alright.'

'Oh good! You'll enjoy it, you'll see! There won't be so many people, we'll get to choose the best of the school brooms, and we can practice Quidditch too…'

She prattled on happily all the way up to the castle till she had managed to convince even him, that it was a very good idea.

IIIIIIIIII

They joined the student Flying Club that very week. It was mainly for those students who liked flying, but were not on any of the school Quidditch teams. They did not actually need the Quidditch pitch for flying – that was reserved for the House team's practice sessions, but Madam Hooch usually found the club members a slot during the weekend (though at rather ungodly hours), to practice on the pitch.

Most members, as Lily had foreseen, had their own brooms, so they got to choose relatively good ones out of the old school brooms.

Their first time at the club was late in the evening, the next Saturday, after the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had finished their practice, and they were finally allowed onto the pitch. Quite a few of the club members turned up, for the day had been fine. Lily noticed Severus and herself were amongst the youngest members (the Club did not accept first-years). There were no Gryffindors from her year – she had tried to persuade Mary, but she didn't want, and Alice, who was a more likely candidate, had joined another club with Thalia. Jenny, of course, was out of the question.

She did recognize a Slytherin third-year, Philistus Avery, who was talking to a another Slytherin third year, a tall gangly boy; and Melchior Abbott, who was probably trying get in some practice to be able to live up to his sister's reputation on the Hufflepuff team. The rest were senior students whom she did not know.

The club President was a burly Ravenclaw fifth-year called Will Ollerton, who immediately told all the newly-joined members to get onto their brooms and fly a few times round the pitch, so he could assess their strengths and weaknesses.

Her heart hammering fast, she took her place next to Severus and the gangly Slytherin third- year boy, called Mulciber, who had joined that week, too. On Ollerton's signal, they all kicked off and rose into the air.

Lily forgot her fears as soon as she was airborne. This was like riding a bicycle – she hadn't forgotten. She leaned forward, putting on some speed, the cool evening breeze lifting her hair. A dark shadow flew over her head and then in front of her.

It was Severus! He had overtaken her and was now glancing back at her, a satisfied smirk on his face. The hypocrite! He was enjoying every minute of it, after she had to try so hard to persuade him to join! Well, she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing!

She leaned further forward in the perfect aerodynamic position for maximum speed that she had learnt last year, and her broom shot forward. It was vibrating slightly, but she ignored it. She noted with glee that she was catching up on Severus, and at that moment he decided to look back to see where she was. That threw him slightly off balance, so that he slowed down, and she overtook him with a whoop.

It was then that it happened. She had looked back at Severus, intending to gloat, and was surprised to find him close on her tail. However, he was looking past her, and the look on his face was one of alarm.

'Lily, look out-!'

She looked back in time to see the third-year Slytherin, who had appeared suddenly out of nowhere, swerve in front of her. The tail of his broomstick caught hers and she was sent spinning sideways. She hadn't been expecting it, and fought desperately to regain control, but her broom had already been going at a speed it could ill-afford, and she thought with a sickening feeling that she would surely crash, when she felt someone grab her tightly around her arm. It was Severus. She felt as though her arm was being pulled out of its socket, but at least he had stopped her uncontrollable spin. The momentum had almost unseated him too, but he managed to hang on to his broom with one hand, whilst his other arm was linked to hers, steadying her until they reached the ground.

'Are you ok?' he said anxiously.

'I'm fine,' she mumbled, getting off her broom. 'What happened? Where did that idiot come from?'

'Apparently, he decided to join the race – he came up from beneath you and hit you.' He looked darkly at the third- year, who had now dismounted on the other side of the pitch where the other club members were looking on. 'Probably just to show off the new Nimbus 1001 he was bragging about yesterday'

'The idiot! I wasn't expecting him!' she shouldered her broom in disgust 'And I hope he hasn't got me kicked out of the club.'

'Why should you be? We were just supposed to fly round the pitch, remember? He wasn't supposed to kick you right out of the sky!'

'Well, yes, thanks about that, Sev.' she gave his arm a grateful squeeze, 'I'd be in the Hospital wing right now, if it weren't for you!'

' 'Twas nothing' he mumbled, shouldering his broom and following her 'I'll hex Mulciber into oblivion, if he tries that trick again!'

'But that's what they do in Quidditch, don't they? It's called Blatching, and its part of the game,' she said, reasonably.

'That's an illegal part of the game. And we weren't playing Quidditch. He ... he just had better not … he'd better not do that again, anyway!'

Lily looked sideways at him. His eyes were dark, his face slightly flushed and he was scowling at the distant knot of students, in the middle of whom was Mulciber.

Lily realized with some surprise, that he was ready to defend her even against a fellow Slytherin. Sure, Mulciber had behaved like an idiot, but she didn't think it such a big deal – people got hurt all the time in Quidditch, didn't they? Being one of very few girls in the Flying Club, she had been determined not to make a fuss. However, Severus' words had given her an inexplicably warm feeling inside.

It must be how one felt when part of a Quidditch team – the camaraderie, the shared feelings; the sticking up for each other… But she knew she and Severus could never be on the same Quidditch team together- they were separated by their school houses. Perhaps it was just the fact that they were friends – best friends, and that is what best friends did.

She was still so inexplicably happy, that she found it difficult to wipe the smile off her face when they came up to Ollerton and the other club members. Severus still looked thunderous, and she was half-afraid he might carry out his threat and hex Mulciber. But they found that he was being given a good talking-to by the Flying club President, who also threatened him with expulsion from the club, if he tried any unauthorized attacks again.

'Good flying, Evans. You're a Chaser.' Ollerton said, as they approached. He turned to Severus and grinned. 'And that was a great save, Snape. I'll let you try as Keeper today.'

Then he divided them into two groups and Lily found she had been wrong to think she would never be in a Quidditch team with Severus, for that is what Ollerton proposed for the rest of the evening. It was not a proper Quidditch match – that was for the School house teams, but, given that they had the pitch to themselves, Ollerton thought it best to make the most of it.

There being so few people, the two teams were naturally made up of students from all the four houses within each team. Severus was with Lily in the first team, but so was, unfortunately, Mulciber.

He had not even apologised to Lily for knocking her off her broom, but he took to the sky and proceeded to try and interfere with whatever their temporary team Captain, a tall, fourth-year Raven claw, said.

'He's like that,' Severus explained, as Lily came to hover near the goalposts, their team Captain having stopped the game for the second time, to yell at Mulciber. 'He's always bossing everyone around – even in our common room. Always wants to get his own way with everything - someone ought to teach him a lesson!'

Ollerton, who was acting as referee, blew the whistle once more and the game started again.

It was nothing spectacular as Quidditch games go - most members were untrained, and a certain amount of cheating ensued at first, with team members from the same house favoring their own house members, but Lily was surprised to see even this dissipate, as the game progressed. In the excitement of playing (they had scored 2 goals each) she saw them forget their house differences and mesh together as a team intent on winning. She had managed to score a goal, and Severus had managed to save some, so overall, they were playing quite discreetly, considering she had a very old broom and Severus, as Keeper, should have been preferably six-foot tall.

Their team managed to score more goals and was winning, when Melchior Abbott spotted the snitch and dived for it before their own seeker had even noticed.

Lily smiled as she saw the members of the other team surround Melchior. Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Slytherins, were all cheering the blond and freckled Hufflepuff boy as he held the snitch aloft ; shouting and whooping for all the world like it was a real game. She wondered whether they would regret this display of camaraderie between the different houses, when the adrenaline rush was over, and they were back at lessons, each house vying with each other for house points. It seemed to her that, at least for that brief moment, all she had heard about the war and people taking different sides was far-fetched and untrue.

At that moment Madam Hooch appeared, and it seemed they had almost overshot their curfew, because she berated Ollerton soundly for forgetting, and shooed them all off to the showers, telling them not to take long, or they would get detention.

They trouped inside the changing rooms near Madam Hooch's office and removed all the protective gear they had been allowed to borrow. Like the brooms, they had borrowed school protective gear which was ill-fitting, having been designed for older students. Severus's arm guards and Keeper's gloves were the only things that fitted well, for he was sporting a red welt caused by a Bludger hitting him over a too-large helmet, whose brim had bitten into his skin.

'I hope I'm not Keeper again next time' he said, unstrapping the leg guards that reached beyond his knees. 'because I'm not wearing that ruddy helmet again!'

'Ollerton said we may not play Quidditch next weekend. It's close to the first Quidditch match, and we won't stand 'alf a chance of using the pitch,' said Avery, who was placing his bat back on the rack.

'Probably we'll just practice over the lawns,' Lily said 'That should be fun, too.'

'Nah – Quidditch is better'n flying around doing nothin' special!' and Phil Avery headed towards the boy's showers at the back.

Fifteen minutes later, they were all heading back across the lawn towards the castle, with damp hair and shivering slightly in the cold, night air.

Argus Filch, the caretaker, was waiting for them at the main door. He was a thin, rather ugly man with what seemed a permanent, sour look on his face. This year he had procured himself a sandy-coloured kitten that accompanied him everywhere, and whom he had named Mrs Norris.

'Get along with ye,' he grumbled, 'It's already three minutes past curfew and if Madam Hooch hadn't insisted otherwise, I'd be haulin' ye all off to the Headmaster…. Proper punishment is what ye deserve!'

Lily scurried past him quickly, turned towards the grand staircase and mouthed a silent goodnight to Severus, who was heading towards the door that lead to the dungeon common-room followed by Avery and Mulciber.